At a glance: For the third year, Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget proposal includes a fee for municipalities that rely solely on the state police for protection. This year, the proposal ditches the original $25 per capita fee that drew the ire of many small, cash-strapped communities in favor of a sliding scale. In all, the fee is projected to bring in $103.9 million, offsetting funding cuts elsewhere. Across all funds, including federal and special fund dollars, the agency’s budget will increase slightly to $1.34 billion.

Over at the Department of Criminal Justice (corrections, probation and parole to us laypeople), funding remains essentially flat at $2.77 billion across all funds, reflecting a $12 million increase.

What it means: The long-simmering debate over how to fund the massive Pennsylvania State Police continues. On one hand, fee proponents say the nearly 1,300 communities that rely solely on the state police are benefitting from the largesse of taxpayers who pay for both a local department and the state police. Some of the communities that would pay the fee argue they don’t see (or, in some cases, need) much police protection under the current system and they worry that residents who tend to be living on low- or fixed incomes can’t shoulder a fee that would be passed along as a local tax hike. This new proposal seeks to address some of those concerns by using a sliding scale that starts at $8 per capita for communities with less than 2,000 residents and increases to $166 per capita for those with more than 20,000 residents. Municipalities that use state police for partial coverage would not pay the fee under the current proposal.

The looming glut of state police retirements remains, however. Wolf’s proposal would fund three cadet classes to help offset 100 projected retirements through the end of the upcoming fiscal year. The overall state police complement would remain flat at 6,446. The complement of troopers is 4,719. Elsewhere, the state police budget includes $25 million for the costly and long-gestating radio system upgrade and another $25 million for state agencies to replace their radios.

Pennsylvania’s inmate population declined over the last decade and, according to Wolf’s budget, that’s expected to tick down again in the coming year to 46,988. Increasing operational costs (food service, building maintenance, staffing) mean that the state won’t see any immediate savings in the year ahead.

Verdict: Whatever one thinks of the local policing fee, the state police’s operating budget would basically remain status quo under Wolf’s budget. Ditto corrections. Let’s call it a toss-up.